Who is the Little Girl?

"It's the end of the world", whispered Grim, as I stared outside the window, at a crimson sky that had only been getting redder every coming day. There was no explanation, no scientist, no wizard could explain what was going on. Nothing had changed, the wind was a little drier now but I didn't think much of it. I looked at Grim who rarely spoke to me, it was odd to find him not seeking a corner to sleep in.

He wore a grin, like the end of the world wasn't any of his business at all. I gave him a blank stare without saying anything. I would have spoken, had we not been interrupted by Deli. She shot a stray newspaper my way and walked away. She looked particularly disgruntled for some reason.

"Sorcerer killed: Five martyred in a fiery execution", read a headline.

The sorcerer? I thought to myself, before reading on.

"...who had disguised as a woman during the assassination, as reported by eyewitnesses..."

I suppressed a laugh, before tossing the newspaper aside. There was nothing to say after the execution. We didn't stay long after the flames were out and the bodies were being taken care of. Most of the personnel was called on to a meeting, which was likely in order to decide on the statement to be given to the public. Some officer had walked over to us after the execution and greeted Lady rather warmly. He apologized for the sight we "had" to see. He chattered on for about 15 minutes about various matters, and then after lacing his goodbyes with quite a bunch of admirations for Lady, he bowed slightly and left.

He was some bigwig, as was evident from his uniform but he wasn't the guy that usually made contact with Lady. That guy, the handler as we called him, had only glared at us once from a distance before disappearing who knows where. When the bigwig had gone and Lady had returned all his admirations with a cheerful smile, we all looked at her curiously.

"Lady, who was that?", Deli asked before looking at Chopper who seemed to have no idea either.

Lady remained silent for a while before uttering, "No idea."

We never encountered that particular man again, and I wonder why I felt the need to even mention him. In any case, we departed immediately afterwards and no word was ever spoken about the execution.

The blue-eyed man who was now branded as a sorcerer, I never learned anything about him either. No one ever learned who he really was, there was no record of him. It was likely disposed of secretly, to remove his name from history. The world knew him as nothing more than "The Sorcerer".

After everything settled down, Chopper reported about our mission to Lady. About Jean V., his parting message, about Azag and his elimination, and about his "awakening", as Chopper called it, referring to his arm. He now kept it hidden under a cloak that covered only his right arm. Ebony had returned to its rightful owner, in its true form. At least, it gave me some sense of relief to know I hadn't costed Chopper not just his arm but also half of his power, even though he never thought anything of it.

"So, kid, you said you don't remember who that girl was, right?", he asked me later when I joined him and Lady.

"What girl?"

"Exactly", he sniggered before lighting a cigarette.

"Seraph", Lady spoke, "I hear you've got a messed up memory about things ever since you got back from Wenus."

"That girl could have been from your memories too, Chopper-san", I said as I remembered what he was talking about.

"No way, I've never seen the kid."

"But you did say you have a bad memory about most of your life", I retorted.

"I did, but it isn't that I don't remember the people. I'm pretty sure I do. I just can't tell if it really is how things happened or if my head's making things up."

"This isn't going anywhere, you two", Lady broke us up.

I wondered why it was such a big concern, it might have been that Azag created a little girl just to throw us off, she might never have existed in the first place.

"Well, it doesn't really matter, does it? We forget people all the time, maybe I'd met some kid once and just forgotten about it", I interrupted her train of thought.

"That wouldn't have happened. She got to have left some big impact on your mind for Azag to pull her out", Chopper turned that idea down.

"But-"

"Seraph", Lady looked at me sternly, "Are you sure you don't remember anyone like that?"

I thought back and drew a complete blank. I could barely remember the girl's face anymore.

"I'm sure I d-", something suddenly came to me.

In fact, I had seen the girl once before. Back in Wallach, when I had been stuck in that nightmarish storm, I had seen Eso's grandfather and a little girl. Back then too, I didn't know who the girl was. Though I couldn't remember what the girl looked like back in Wallach, I was positive she was the same height and age as the one that Azag had crafted. So then, I thought, was the girl someone from my memories after all? And if so, why couldn't I remember her at all?

"Seraph?", Lady asked after I had gotten lost in thought.

"I have no idea...I don't remember", I decided there was no point in mentioning Wallach.

Both she and Chopper stared at me suspiciously but then Lady dismissed me. I heard them talking when I was leaving.

"You don't suppose...", Chopper muttered.

"We still can't say, though it's a possibility. On the other hand, we might be totally mistaken about what he really is."

I was frozen for a while, unable to understand what she meant by that. But then, a sudden weakness came over me, my head felt like splitting and I couldn't be bothered to care anymore. Whatever mystery was brewing behind the scenes, I left it behind me as I walked to my room, deciding to retire for the day.